A candid with 85mm f/1.4

A candid spur-of-the-moment portrait of my wife Anne.
Taken indoors with available light (@ 1/25sec. hand held)
I like the AF 85mm f/1.4D, but it is definitely not my favorite for standard head portraits...(DUCKS!!! )

A beautiful image Frits. From what I hear it is a bit of a finicky lens to get the hang od, but quickly gains feverish favor once mastered. Hang in ther with it as you of all people can make this lens sing.

A beautiful image Frits. From what I hear it is a bit of a finicky lens to get the hang od, but quickly gains feverish favor once mastered. Hang in ther with it as you of all people can make this lens sing.

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Thanks Dave!
I feel very comfortable with the lens and it is an excellent one. It is just that its strength is not regular face size portraits - which I like to do at times. I'll stick with my Ai-S 105mm f/2.5 for those (another post on the subject with more on what I mean: https://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=111559 ).

Frits,
I honestly can't tell if the eyes are as soft as they appear or if it's just the glare from Anne's glasses. I do know that using that lens wide open should be a last resort though. Very, very tough to nail both eyes at 1.4. I try to limit myself to f/2.

The 85 is a tough lens to "master". I've had mine for about 8 months now and still have trouble with it sometimes....especially in low, natural light.

But....when you get it just right it creates magical images.

The quality of it's images is apparent at smaller apertures so even at f/4-11 it creates gorgeous shots that are somewhat unique to this lens.

In the studio when shooting at 1/250 and stopped down it's a breeze and edges out my 28-70 slightly, but meaningfully.

For Low Light portraits I have started using the 105vr micro primarily. It's bokeh is similarly creamy and the quantity of keepers is higher due to the VR feature.

I do love the 85 for close portraits though.... with it's only real issue being it doesn't focus close enough. When I go through the photo's from a shoot my favorites were almost always taken with the 85.

Frits,
I honestly can't tell if the eyes are as soft as they appear or if it's just the glare from Anne's glasses. I do know that using that lens wide open should be a last resort though. Very, very tough to nail both eyes at 1.4. I try to limit myself to f/2.

The 85 is a tough lens to "master". I've had mine for about 8 months now and still have trouble with it sometimes....especially in low, natural light.

But....when you get it just right it creates magical images.

The quality of it's images is apparent at smaller apertures so even at f/4-11 it creates gorgeous shots that are somewhat unique to this lens.

In the studio when shooting at 1/250 and stopped down it's a breeze and edges out my 28-70 slightly, but meaningfully.

For Low Light portraits I have started using the 105vr micro primarily. It's bokeh is similarly creamy and the quantity of keepers is higher due to the VR feature.

Don't give up on it....just stop down a bit.:smile:

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Thanks for the advice Stuart, much appreciated.
The dislike I have stems mainly from the focal length. I like the perspective of the 105mm for regular portraits much better.
For somewhat "artistic portraits", where you want to play with the 85 / f1.4's superb DOF / bokeh effects, it is second to none. Just not what I do a lot...

Thanks for the advice Stuart, much appreciated.
The dislike I have stems mainly from the focal length. I like the perspective of the 105mm for regular portraits much better.
For somewhat "artistic portraits", where you want to play with the 85 / f1.4's superb DOF / bokeh effects, it is second to none. Just not what I do a lot...

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Yep...I hear you. The 105 works great. I also really, really love my 180, but I can't always get back far enough!:frown:

Everyone just has to find the tools that work best for them. I do love to preach the benefits of the 85 though.....sorry if I got going there for a minute!:redface:

It's a difficult focusing challenge at f/1.4, for sure and this image is even more so, as you have to navigate or choose a focus point between the eyes and the glasses, and of course the glare does not help. That said, you wife is as lovely as always!

I think that at f/2 or even f/2.8, this lens does a great job! In my case, I have the added burden of using manual focus with my AI-S 85/1.4, but when it works, it works! :smile:

I have had luck with low light portraits @ 1.4 but I wasn't so close. If that photo is uncropped then I think one couldn't hope to get enough DOF at that distance. For example, it looks like Anne's nose is quite out of focus.

Also, I don't know how you got such an image at 1/25 hand-held. That's quite impressive. But it probably should not be the norm, unless you really are that good!

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